


you can run away with me

by xrebelwithacausex



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Friendships, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter Friendship, Draco Malfoy Redemption, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Fix-It, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Good Draco Malfoy, Redemption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 06:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30084894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xrebelwithacausex/pseuds/xrebelwithacausex
Summary: when katie bell is cursed by a mysterious stranger, harry knows it's malfoy; but with no proof, he can't do anything about it. but when katie comes back, recovered but shaken,a nd stares straight at malfoy, harry knows he's on the right track. running after malfoy to confront him, harry sees something he never expected: malfoy crying. overcome, he helps malfoy out, and over the course of the next few weeks, they find themselves running into each other in the prefect's bathroom a lot more than usual. soon, harry finds out draco's instructions, and it's up to him and the order to figure out what to do about them - and draco
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks
Kudos: 5





	you can run away with me

“Harry? Harry, look,” Hermione said, lowering her voice. “It’s Katie Bell,”

Harry turned around, catching sight of an exhausted-looking Katie making her way to the Gryffindor dorms. 

“Katie!” he called as he ran to catch up with her. She stopped and waited expectantly. “How are you?” he asked. Katie shrugged.

“Been better. Look, I know you’re going to ask, but I really have no idea who cursed me. I’ve been trying to remember, but there’s nothing,”

_ Damn it _ , he thought. If Katie had remembered Malfoy at all, then he would have all the proof he needed to show everyone that he was a Death-Eater. He shook his head.

“Don’t worry about that. Get some rest, and I hope you feel better,”

“Thank you,” she said.

“But if you do happen to remember something?”

“I’ll let you-” she broke off, staring at something over Harry’s shoulder. He followed her gaze, leading him straight to Malfoy, who looked horrified at the sight of her.

“-know,” she finished. 

“Of course,” he said, keeping an eye on Malfoy, who was leaving the Great Hall. 

_ I have to confront him _ , he thought.

_ Are you mad? You’ve got nothing to go on. He’ll have Snape on your arse in five minutes, _

_ If I don’t expose him, he’ll hurt someone _

With his mind made up, Harry followed Malfoy to the bathroom. He ran through a mental list of spells he could use -  _ sectumsempra  _ was on his mind quite a lot. He still had no idea what it was for, but how bad could it be? The Half-Blood Prince - whoever that was - had obviously been a student. Maybe it would tie Malfoy’s legs together for a couple of hours. He took a deep breath - it had been a while since he had a chance to properly duel Malfoy - and stepped inside.

He quietly crept towards the sinks, raising his wand, prepared to disarm Malfoy before he could try anything. But he heard something that made him pause.

Malfoy was  _ crying _ . 

Not a couple of tears because something was in his eye or he was too tired to function properly. He was a complete sobbing mess. Harry lowered his wand in shock.

“ _ Malfoy? _ ” he asked, aghast. Malfoy stiffened up, raising his wand. Harry raised his hands up, palms empty in surrender. “I’m not going to fight you,” he said.

Malfoy dropped his wand and continued to cry, breath hitching with every attempt to calm himself. 

Harry desperately wished he hadn’t come. Now he was stuck with his rival crying in a bathroom, and he couldn’t even find it in himself to leave.

After many long, awkward moments punctured only by Malfoys’ sobs, Harry walked over to him.

“What happened?” he asked. But Malfoy shook his head in terror. 

“I can’t,” he choked out. “I can’t do it,”

Something in Harry unravelled at the sight of Malfoy’s tear stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes, something that forged a fragile connection between the two of them. They were no longer Potter and Malfoy, rivals in every aspect of the word; they were two teenage boys on the bathroom floor who didn’t know what to do. Fragile, breakable, but there.

He guided Malfoy’s shaking figure to the edge of the bathtub, sitting down quietly with him as he buried his head in his hands.

“What can’t you do?” he asked, eager to prove once and for all that he was a Death Eater — perhaps Voldemort had set him a task that was too difficult — but Malfoy was inconsolable.

“I can’t, I can’t,” he kept saying, as though it was the only thing tethering him to this reality. 

“Okay, then don’t,” Harry said desperately. “It’ll be okay,”

Malfoy repeated his mantra, and Harry’s desperation grew louder.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay, don’t tell me what it is. That’s fine. Just — do you want water?”

He managed to nod slightly, holding out his hand. Harry conjured a small cup of water and handed it to Malfoy, which he sipped slowly. The whole time, Harry was wracking his brains for something else to do, a feeling of helplessness gnawing at him. Here was another responsibility, as though he didn’t have enough on his plate.

“Do you want Crabbe and Goyle?” he asked, knowing the three were as inseparable as he was with Ron and Hermione. If anyone would be able to console Malfoy, it was them. But he shook his head frantically, wiping his tears away as new ones fell. 

“Pansy?” Harry asked. “You two are dating, right?” 

But he continued to shake his head, gasping for breath as he tried to slow the tears down. Harry couldn’t think of anything else to do. He wasn’t about to get Snape, and if he didn’t want Pansy or Crabbe and Goyle, he had no idea who could help. For a fleeting moment, he entertained the idea of leaving and letting him deal with this on his own, but the sight of Malfoy’s shaking form quickly changed his mind.

“Well, alright then,” he said helplessly as he sat down next to Malfoy. 

“I’ll just stay here,” he added, half hoping Malfoy would tell him to leave. Unfortunately, there was a sort of rightness to this, though Harry wasn’t quite sure why.

Neither of them spoke another word.

Malfoy’s breathing was erratic at best; each time Harry thought he was calming down, a fresh shudder would overtake him, and the sobs renewed. 

A particularly nasty sob frightened Harry slightly. He didn’t seem to be calming down — what if someone were to find them?

Eventually, Malfoy stopped shaking and his breathing slowed. He stood up and looked at Harry, a fearful look in his eyes. Somehow, Harry knew what he was afraid of, and shook his head. He would never speak of this to anyone. Malfoy left the bathroom in a hurry, and this time, Harry didn’t follow him.

~~

“You went to confront Malfoy? Are you mad?” Hermione asked.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything,” Harry said, shaking his head.

“Well, why not? You were already there, might as well say what you wanted,” Ron asked.

But Harry shook his head again. “I reckoned you were right, and we need more proof before we accuse him of anything. I left before he saw me,” he lied. He could see Malfoy from across Hermione’s shoulder, looking stricken as they locked gazes. Harry shook his head as imperceptibly as he could, trying to convey that he wasn’t going to say a word about what had happened in the bathroom.

“Well, thank goodness for that,” Hermione said. “Now, stop focusing on Malfoy and start focusing on what Dumbledore asked you to do,”

“I’m working on it, alright? What am I supposed to do, just ask Slughorn for it? ‘Excuse me, sir, could we get your most embarrassing memory and give it to your boss so he can judge you for it? We’re talking about the one where you aided the Dark Lord in destroying the world by giving him illegal information, just to be clear.’ I think that’ll go great, don’t you?”

“Well, when you put it like  _ that _ ,” Ron said.

“Exactly,”

“Well, you’ll figure it out,” he said. “Otherwise Dumbledore wouldn’t have asked you,”

“I suppose you’re right,” Harry said.

There was a momentary silence, then Ron spoke. “Dean and Ginny broke up, did you hear?”

“No,” Harry said as his heart leapt, unable to resist glancing at Hermione, whose gaze was fixed on him.

“Yeah. She dumped him last night,” 

“I suppose that means you no longer despise him?” Hermione asked.

“Oh, come off it, ‘mione,” Ron groaned. “I only hated seeing him with Ginny because she’s my sister. He’s great otherwise,”

Harry felt his heart sink. No matter how much he cared for Ginny, he would never dare to do anything about it. Not if his friendship with Ron was the price. 

_ I suppose I’ll have to just wait it out until I fall for someone who’s safe for me to date _ , he thought.  _ Maybe I’ll find another Cho Chang _

Strangely enough, he quite missed her some days. He really did like her, and he wished he hadn’t messed up on Valentines’ Day. Maybe he’d have a girlfriend now if he didn’t screw up that date. After that, things had never been quite right between them, and Harry did miss her friendship, if nothing else. 

“Are you ready for the Quidditch match?” Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. “As ready as I usually am, meaning not really,”

“D’you think you could help me practice a little today? I’m feeling a little nervous,”

“Yeah, sure,” Harry said. “We can go now,”

“Right, I’ll head to the bathroom and meet you on the field,” Ron said as the trio stood up. Ron went over towards the bathrooms, leaving Harry and Hermione to walk to the field themselves. 

Once Ron was out of earshot, Hermione looked at him expectantly.

“What?” Harry asked.

“Ginny,” she said, as though it should be obvious. “Aren’t you going to do something now that she broke up with Dean?”

“What, are you mad? Ron would never speak to me again,” Harry looked at her incredulously. Hermione rolled her eyes.

“That was Dean. This is you. You’re probably the only guy he’d ever be okay with Ginny dating anyways,”

Harry shook his head. “No way. I’m not risking it,”

“Fine, but you’re wrong,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Anyways, why didn’t you talk to Malfoy?”

Harry blinked in surprise, feeling his heart race. “Wha-what do you mean?”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you didn’t, but why didn’t you confront him?” she asked. “And don’t give me that half-arsed story about seeing that I was right and deciding to wait for more information. You’ve never done that in your life,”

“What? Yes I have,” he said, trying to avoid her original question. 

“You haven’t. I tell you and Ron not to do something stupid, you do it anyways, and then you realize I was right all along. But stop trying to avoid the question,” she elbowed him. “Why didn’t you confront Malfoy?”

Damn.

Harry tried to come up with another excuse on the spot, and sighed. “Look, ‘mione, I don’t know what else to tell you. I know I’m right, but I figured his dad would raise hell if I didn’t have anything to back it up with,”

“His dad would raise hell either way,” she pointed out.

“True. But at least with more information Dumbledore and the others will believe me,”

Hermione looked at him in surprise. “Well, good for you for finally realizing that I’m right about these things,”

The two friends laughed as they reached the Quidditch pitch, and Harry prepared short exercises to try with Ron. But his mind was still in the prefect’s bathroom, trying to work out what Malfoy had been so upset about. Part of him wondered if he would ever know. Part of him wondered if he would ever want to.


End file.
